NEWS

Serena seeded third in Australia

Reigning US Open champion Serena Williams will be seeded third at the 2013 Australian Open. Williams has won five Australian Open women's singles titles and 15 Grand Slam singles championships overall; she is pursuing her third straight Slam title after winning Wimbledon and the US Open in 2012.

Other seeded Americans on the women's side include No. 21 seed Varvara Lepchenko, No. 25 Venus Williams and No. 29 Sloane Stephens. The 19-year-old Stephens is seeded at a Grand Slam event for the first time in her career.

John Isner is the top-seeded American man at No. 12, followed by No. 21 Sam Querrey. World No. 27 Mardy Fish will miss the Australian Open as he continues his recovery from health-related issues.

Defending champions Novak Djokovic and Victoria Azarenka will be the top-seeded players for the Australian Open as organizers stuck closely to the latest rankings to seed 32 players for each of the men's and women's draws. The year's first Grand Slam tournament starts next week.

Information from The Associated Press was used in compiling this story.